The rumor mill is churning once again for the upcoming Note 4 by Samsung, this time fueled by a tweet sent out by Samsung themselves. From their official Exynos Twitter account, the company sent out a picture of an eye on the phone screen with the following text: “Security can be improved using features unique to us. That’s what we envision. What would you use?”
Now, nowhere in the tweet does it mention what device this may be used on but the next major phone out of Samsung’s chute should be the Note 4. And while it doesn’t specifically say anything about a retina scanner, come on. It’s a hint, a teaser. Besides, this is not the first time a rumor has been going around about a retina scanner for a Samsung phone. Heck, according to rumors, the Galaxy S5 was supposed to have one on it. The major difference this time is that Samsung has never posted such a heavy hint as this.
Another thing is Samsung is very interested in being a top name in the business for safe and secure phones. Their implemented Knox system has boosted confidence to the point where Galaxy S5s are now being okayed for use in the U.S. government and military. And their version of the fingerprint reader, while a positive step in the right direction, did not operate as well as many hoped (myself, included). To this end, it looks like Samsung is getting ready to leapfrog the fingerprint technology and utilize retina scanning which is far harder to fool.
Some questions may arise about the retina scanner such as, will it work in the dark and will eyeglasses hinder the scanning? The question about the darkness has already been solved by using infrared light, but eyeglasses may still prove to be a problem, much more exacerbated if you try to scan your retinas while wearing sunglasses. But honestly, there will always be caveats, such as a fingerprint reader cannot work through gloves. That should just be common sense.
At any rate, we’ll probably only have to wait until September when Samsung is (again, rumored) to announce the Galaxy Note 4 at IFA in Berlin. What are your thoughts on the plausibility of a retina scanner and would you like to see it on the next Note?